These Things We Do…
Amel woke up with the beauty and grace of a snoring yak. Throughout the night, she had been tossing and turning under her covers. Rarity had given her this new type of blanket that supposedly kept her coat extra clean and shiny, but it was horribly hot and stuffy, probably because Amel’s coat wasn’t quite the same as rarity’s. Eventually, she fell asleep, but not before ruffling herself up and becoming generally disheveled.
Amel rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to prepare for the day. She had been trying to look presentable ever since she was given a home here to stay in. Today was no different, really, not with the plan she had going. She knew no one really cared about the fact that she made herself look decent in the morning, but it felt good to clean up and leave the house feeling fresh.
She didn’t do the makeup that had been recommended to her. Rarity certainly looked fabulous in it, but Amel didn’t like the idea of putting all that stuff on her face. It seemed uncomfortable to her.
After cleaning up and brushing her teeth, Amel went down and made herself a breakfast sandwich to start the day off. She was feeling pretty hungry this morning, so she pulled out two thick slices of bread and made a sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, honey mustard, cauliflower, and broccoli. A strong breakfast makes for a strong pony.
When she finished eating, Amel left the house and decided on going to the library. She knew the team would return sometime today, as the flight was somewhat long, so she would wait there. She also wanted to speak to this dragon, Spike. She didn’t know much about dragons and he seemed like he would be able to answer her curiosity.
She trotted out of the house and made her way to the library. Through the town, there were still ponies fixing things up, though a good deal of reconstruction had occurred by now.
Amel reached the library and knocked on the door. Not too long after, none other than the dragon himself answered.
“Oh, Miss Amel,” Spike said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Amel apologized.
“No, no, not at all,” Spike replied. “Though I admit that I wasn’t expecting you here. I thought for sure you’d be waiting elsewhere.”
“So early?” Amel asked.
“Not early,” Spike said. “Not by much. Twilight told me that a military air carriage is on the way now.”
“What?!” Amel shouted, causing Spike to reel. “When is it going to arrive?!”
“I think it’s set to land in about ten minutes,” Spike said.
Amel turned around and sprinted for the air strip. She had forgotten which way it was, or if she had ever known, so Cadance told her the previous day. Cadance thought it would be nice for her to be there when they returned so she could congratulate them and meet this OGA who kept her man from her. Cadance and Shining Armor were in Twilight’s castle, awaiting the official debriefing.
Amel ran like her life depended on it. She didn’t want to be late. It didn’t matter terribly if she was, as they would probably have OGA and nothing was time-dependent any longer.
The dirt crunched with every thundering step Amel took toward the air strip and the air felt like it tore at her face. The amount of energy she was expending in this run would have to be her exercise for the rest of the week with how she would feel after.
She could see the airstrip up ahead, and even as she was running to it, she could hear a carriage touching down on the runway and coming to a screeching halt. It didn’t seem that necessary, but she didn’t know much about flight dynamics.
She broke through everything in her way and stood next to the airstrip, watching the pegasi who had been pulling the carriage. They looked like they were totally spent, that they had put every bit of their energy into getting back as quickly as possible. They must have had some pretty major news for the princesses.
Amel could see something happening with the door in the back of the carriage and sat with baited breath for the warrior commuters to exit and display their victory. The door seemed like it took forever to open, hinges creaking like some cliché horror movie.
When they were final open, she saw Duke walk out. He looked like he had gone to Hell and come back to tell the tale; his gear was damaged, and he had blood on a lot of his gear. His steps were heavy, like he had iron boots on, and his head hung low from exhaustion.
“Duke!” Amel shouted gleefully.
Duke’s head snapped up, but the expression was anything but what Amel had expected. He had an expression of pure fear on his face, like he saw someone going through a horrible pain that he couldn’t stop. Amel remembered his story about the Green Beret he couldn’t save; it was exactly the sort of expression he would wear on that dreadful day.
Amel’s face switched from being full of joy to concern. What had happened? Why did Duke look like that?
“Duke?” Amel asked.
Duke started walking over to her with heavy steps and hanging arms. He wasn’t saying anything, but his expression… it spoke, somehow. Something wasn’t right. Maybe OGA wasn’t there, the absence of their target?
But there was a different absence.
Amel froze. “Where is Frost?” Amel asked.
Duke hadn’t made it very far. Behind him, Amel could hear the sounds of stallion struggling with something. Duke’s head spun around, like it was on an axle.
“Guys, stop!” Duke shouted.
“Where is Frost!?” Amel demanded.
Duke turned back to her. “Amel…”
She took off toward the carriage. Duke was a mere few steps away from the carriage, and quickly rushed forward to intercept her. Before she could get too close, Duke had his forearm out and blocking her way.
“Frost!?!” Amel screamed.
“Amel,” Duke said.
“Where is he!?” Amel demanded once again.
Duke looked down at her, straight into her eyes. In this moment, they shared their horrid vulnerability. They could see each other’s pain. Now they both knew.
“Amel…” Duke said. Tears started cascading from his eyes. “Frost… Frost didn’t make it.”
Amel blinked. Then blinked again. And then one more time. That was impossible. Frost couldn’t be gone.
“No,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” Duke said.
Behind Duke, the stallions were pulling Frost’s body from the carriage. The final confirmation, the undeniable truth.
“No!” Amel screamed. The stallions hadn’t seen it coming and nearly dropped him at the sudden sound.
“Amel!” Duke said through gritted, exhausted teeth as he grabbed her. Amel fought and fought, but the human warfighter was too strong. She could see Frost, just beyond her reach. All she wanted to do was go to him, to comfort him, tell him it was alright. But he was gone.
“Frost!!” Amel screamed and broke into sobs.
Amel broke down, unable to even stand up. Duke held her close, supporting her and keeping her from wallowing in the dirt. He had to be strong, for the both of them. He had to keep her standing.
Amel moved her hoof up to Duke’s shoulder to hold herself up and cried. There was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t say goodbye to Frost, tell him it was okay. She couldn’t fix his body, heal his wounds. She couldn’t do anything.
She couldn’t tell him how much she loved him.
The man and mare stayed on the runway while the stallions moved the body into a nearby building, just trying to keep it together while the world around them seemed to fall apart piece by piece.